


Where is your boy tonight?

by panicparade



Category: Panic! at the Disco, Young Veins
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Community: trope_bingo, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Party!Fic, Trope : Fake Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 13:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/774852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panicparade/pseuds/panicparade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was a fake date; they were doing all of this to make someone else jealous and maybe Ryan should have set a few ground rules beforehand, like <i>no smiling so brightly</i> or <i>keep your arms off of me</i> or <i>stay far away so I don’t notice how good you smell</i>. Ryan wanted to kick himself. <i>Why the hell had he agreed to this?</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Where is your boy tonight?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Fake Relationship square on my [Trope_Bingo Card](http://panicparade.dreamwidth.org/713.html)  
> Title is a song by _Fall Out Boy_.  
>  Once again,[clockworkmayhem](www.clockworkmayhem.livejournal.com) is awesome for helping me fix things up. :)  
> Seriously, go check out her fics!!

Ryan tugged his shirt and played with his hair, messing it up and then straightening it. He’d been standing there for an hour, his back against the wall with a Coke in his hand, watching the people around him. He hated parties and Spencer knew it, but Ryan had a sneaky fucker for a best friend who didn’t hesitate to pull out the best friend card from time to time. Which is why Ryan was here, at nine on a Friday night, at a party thrown by someone he didn’t know, surrounded by people he didn’t know and he really would have killed Spencer but as soon as they’d entered the house Spencer had run off somewhere leaving Ryan with, “I want you to go and talk to people, make new friends.”

If Ryan had had the cup of Coke in his hand then, he would have thrown it at Spencer’s head.

He was contemplating leaving (even though he’d come here with Spencer, but whatever, he could totally leave alone) when a boy his age came to stand next to him. He was shorter than Ryan, though not by much, and had brown hair that was crazily messed up and deep brown eyes that were trained on Ryan at that moment.

“Hi, I’m Brendon.” He held out his hand, which Ryan shook, replying with, “I’m Ryan.”

“What’s a hot guy like you doing here standing all alone?” Brendon asked, looking all serious and nervous at the same time, and Ryan knew it was rude and he shouldn’t, but he burst out laughing.

Brendon blushed and made to move back but Ryan stopped him with a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry! You just looked so scared saying that! Is that the first time you’ve ever hit on someone?” And Ryan wasn’t actually expecting to him to say yes, but the way even his ears turned red made Ryan choke on his laughter. “Really? Oh man, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have laughed.”

Ryan must have really looked apologetic because Brendon smiled and said, “Nah. It’s okay, I just- okay this may sound weird and you can totally just walk away but, my ex is here tonight and I just,” Brendon paused, running his hand through his hair and messing it up; Ryan thought he looked cute. “He’s here with someone and I don’t want to look like a total loser who came alone and he’s already dating other people. So, I was wondering, umm, if… You know what? Never mind, I don’t even know you and this is just getting weird, I’m sorry.” Brendon turned to leave, but Ryan stopped him again.

“You want me to act like we’re here together so that he doesn’t think you’re lame, which, by the way, I don’t think coming to a party alone makes you lame, but, yeah, okay, I’ll be your fake date,” Ryan said, surprising himself. _It’s not like I’m enjoying myself standing here alone. At least I’ll have company for the rest of the night and he is kind of cute._

Brendon looked shocked, like he hadn’t expected Ryan to agree, but when he realised that Ryan wasn’t joking with him he smiled, bright and happy, and grabbed Ryan’s arm. Ryan was amazed by how beautiful his smile was and he was already beginning to regret agreeing to the plan when Brendon pulled him into the kitchen. He jumped when he felt Brendon’s warm breath on his ear as he leant in to say, “I can’t see him here. Maybe we should go sit outside - I think that’s where most people are.” Ryan could only nod as he tried to get out of Brendon’s grasp without making the other boy feel bad, but Brendon only held on tighter and pulled him out of the kitchen and into the back yard where most people were sitting around the pool.

Brendon stopped walking all of a sudden and Ryan, who had been paying more attention to trying to find where Spencer was so he could leave, walked right into him and stumbled back. He would have fallen down had Brendon not wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned forward to mutter, “He’s by the diving boards. How we about we go and sit on the opposite side?” And Ryan was too busy concentrating on the feel of Brendon standing _very close_ to him to notice where he was looking or what he was talking about. Brendon seemed to take Ryan’s silence as an answer and started walking them towards the side opposite to the diving boards, _with his arm still around Ryan._ Ryan was mentally struggling with the decision to lean further into the touch or pull away, and he couldn’t do either. This was a fake date; they were doing all of this to make someone else jealous and maybe Ryan should have set a few ground rules beforehand, like _no smiling so brightly_ or _keep your arms off of me_ or _stay far away so I don’t notice how good you smell_. Ryan wanted to kick himself. _Why the hell had he agreed to this?_

Brendon sat down on the edge of the pool and pulled Ryan down with him, who was glad that Brendon had finally let go of him and scooted a little away from the other boy so that they weren’t touching. Both boys rolled up their jeans and took off their shoes, dipping their feet in the pool. Ryan was actually liking it out here - the cool summer night with his feet in the pool and a bottle of beer and . . . _Brendon’s arm on his shoulder._

He sighed but didn’t say anything. He had, after all, agreed to this. He looked up to see Brendon staring at the diving boards. “Is he there?” Ryan asked, looking at the group of boys perched on and around the boards.

Brendon nodded. “Yeah, he’s the one talking to the guy in pink t-shirt. …Huh. That’s not that the guy he came with.”  Ryan glanced up to see who Brendon was talking about and choked on his beer. He coughed while Brendon thumped his back and Ryan knew he was attracting attention - some people from across the pool had turned to see who was throwing up a lung, which is the last thing he wanted right then because the guy Brendon’s ex was talking was Ryan’s one and only _best friend in the entire world_.

He wondered when his life had turned into a teen flick.

“Hey, you okay?”

Ryan made himself hold his breath so that he could stop coughing. His throat burned like a bitch. Brendon was leaning closer to him now, his hand rubbing circles on Ryan’s back, and Ryan was acutely aware of each finger on Brendon’s hand through his thin t shirt. He wanted to shrug him off but he found he liked it, promptly blushing at the realisation.

“Y-yeah. Thanks.” Ryan hoped Brendon would mistake his breathlessness and the blush creeping up his face for the near asphyxiation scare he just had. 

Brendon didn’t look convinced, but he did move back and Ryan could breathe properly again. He removed his hand from Ryan’s back to place it around Ryan’s shoulder once more at the exact moment Spencer looked up from his conversation to stare straight across the pool. Ryan wished he had the power of invisibility, or maybe even teleportation. Anything would be better than seeing the self-satisfied smirk across his best friend’s face as he thought Ryan was taking his advice seriously. Spencer quirked his eyebrow at Ryan, looking pointedly at Brendon’s hand and Ryan shook his head. Even if he had to give Spencer his laptop this was one conversation he was _never_ going to have with his friend.

Brendon, unfortunately (though Ryan’s body seemed to disagree with his brain on this count as he leaned towards Brendon), seemed to take Spencer’s staring as something else entirely and wrapped his arm tighter around Ryan. “Unbelievable, he’s getting some random guy to check on me!” he said, glaring at Spencer who was looking amused as he looked back and forth between Brendon and Ryan, with Brendon’s ex leaning in to say something in his ear.

 Ryan wasn’t sure whether he should laugh at Brendon’s naivety, hit him on the head, hit himself on the head or maybe run away from there. He settled for lying down on the pool deck, his feet still in the water, and was thankful when Brendon followed him down. Ryan decided that the best way to avoid any sort of awkward situations tonight was to get Brendon’s mind off his ex so that he could maybe forget that he’d asked Ryan to be his fake date and would move away a little (Ryan ignored the voice in his head that said he would be sad if Brendon stopped touching him. He was pretty sure his brain was against him; it sounded too much like Spencer.). So Ryan asked him about the kind of music he listened to and was pleased to find that they like the same bands. They started talking about their favourite songs and lyrics, before moving onto more general topics, never running out of things to talk about. He found himself enjoying listening to Brendon’s stories, the way his eyes lit up when he talked about something that made him happy, or the way he would look pleased with himself each time Ryan laughed, and every time that happened Ryan had to remind himself that this wasn’t real.

Ryan was in the middle of telling a story about the time he set fire to his neighbour’s cycle with Spencer when he stopped. Brendon looked like he wanted to ask something, and Ryan realised he’d been going on about himself for over an hour, most of the stories being about pranks he’d played with Spencer. “What?” Ryan asked, turning slightly to look at Brendon who was staring at the sky.

“Nothing, just. You talk about this Spencer guy a lot. Is he, umm, is he your boyfriend?” Brendon asked nervously, playing with the zipper of his hoodie.

Ryan burst out laughing, it took him a minute to calm down before he could look at Brendon who looked like he wasn’t sure whether he should laugh or not. Ryan wiped the tears from his eyes, saying, “God, no! Spencer’s my best friend; we’ve known each other for more than 10 years.” Brendon looked relieved and Ryan wondered why before he realised that maybe Brendon was worried that Spencer would come and beat him up for acting like Ryan was his date. _As if_. Ryan was pretty sure Brendon could take Spencer; people just thought he was tough ‘cause he glared a lot.

Throughout the night Brendon stuck close to Ryan, always in contact, either holding his hand, or with an arm around him and Ryan found that he actually liked it. He had to keep reminding himself that this was all just to get Brendon’s ex jealous but somehow each time Ryan would feel Brendon’s hand on the small of his back, warm and stable, he would forget about it and find himself leaning into the touch. They ran into Brendon’s ex twice and Brendon introduced him to Ryan.

Ryan actually found Jon, Brendon’s ex, to be a really nice guy. Not that he would tell Brendon that. But he was funny and he was genuinely interested in talking to Ryan and not just in an “I want to check out the guy my ex came with” way. But, each time Brendon would steer him away before the conversation could grow and Ryan went with it because he was supposed to be Brendon’s _date_ (Fake, his brain would supply helpfully each time he’d forget) after all.

 They were sitting on the stairs talking when Ryan felt someone come and sit on his other side. He turned to see Spencer sitting next to him, smirking the way he always did when he knew something about Ryan that Ryan had tried to hide from him. Ryan wanted to hide his face in ~~Brendon’s~~ his hoodie.

Spencer smiled at Brendon and leaned against Ryan, ignoring the way Brendon was glaring at him. “Hi! I believe we haven’t met.”

Ryan groaned and hid his face in his hands. Spencer would never let him hear the end of this. He could just imagine it: _I told you make new friends and you spent the night being someone’s fake date?!_

Brendon pulled his hands from his face and held them in his own hands, so Ryan hid his face in Brendon’s shoulder. (He told his brain to shut up. He knew he was already screwed, so he might as well enjoy it. And Brendon smelled nice.)

 “Hi, I’m Brendon and this is _my date,_ Ryan.”

And, okay, that hurt Ryan a little because he knew this was all fake and reminded him how much  he wished Brendon would stop with the acting now.

“Ry.” He looked up to see Spencer smiling at him. Not the snarky _You’re busted_ smile but the sincere best friend smile (because of course Spencer would now realise that Ryan has a crush on the guy who asked him to be his fake date to make his ex jealous _before_ Ryan does.). “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

Ryan lifted his head from Brendon’s shoulder, even though he wanted to live like that forever, and ignoring Spencer, looked up at Brendon who appeared confused. “Brendon, this is Spencer. My best friend.” And honestly Ryan could drown in Brendon’s smile because he looked so happy. Wait, _why was Brendon happy?_  

That just meant that Spencer was free to flirt with Jon. And speak of the devil.

 “Spence, you ready to leave?” Jon came up behind Spencer, smiling at Ryan and Brendon.

Ryan chanced a look at Brendon but he didn’t seem to be affected at all. He was still smiling stupidly at Ryan. Ryan wondered if maybe Brendon had hit his head somewhere while Ryan wasn’t looking.

“Yeah, just a sec. You ready to leave, Ry? Jon said he could drop us off, so I told Mom she didn’t have to pick us up,” Spencer informed Ryan. Ryan was getting ready to stand and _finally_ get home when Brendon grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.

“I’ll drop him home, don’t worry,” Brendon said to Spencer, who was looking at Brendon with narrowed eyes.

“Ryan?” Spencer turned to him and Ryan could see that he was worried because he didn’t know Brendon and Ryan wanted to laugh. He was pretty sure that Brendon was incapable of harming anybody. Ryan thought maybe Brendon wanted to thank him for helping him out and besides, it wasn’t like he didn’t have fun hanging out with Brendon.

“It’s okay, Spence. I’ll call you once I reach home.” Ryan smiled at him. Spencer gave a short nod and left with Jon, waving at the two of them as they walked out the door.

“He really worries about you,” Brendon observed.

Ryan leaned against the banister, feeling tired and just wanting to go to bed. “Yeah. He’s pretty awesome. Spencer’s one of the most caring, thoughtful and funny people I know. He just takes time to warm up to people.” Ryan wanted Brendon to understand that Spencer was amazing, and he’d seen the way Jon had made Spencer laugh all night. He wanted his best friend to be happy.

Brendon cleared his throat and Ryan noticed he looked nervous; maybe he’d made Brendon uncomfortable by praising the guy his ex had been flirting with all night. “Brendon, what’s wrong?” Ryan asked, placing a hand on Brendon’s arm.

Brendon cleared his throat again and placed his hand over Ryan’s. He smiled a little nervously and asked, “Ryan, do you think you would maybe wanna, you know, do this again?”

Ryan pulled his hand back and ignored the way his stomach was twisting. “What? You’re asking me to be your fake date again? Brendon, I don’t mind helping you out but it was just once. I can’t go on acting like your fake date. I had a lot of fun today but I don-”

Ryan’s speech was cut short by the feeling of Brendon’s lips on his. He was frozen where he sat, mouth still open in the middle of his “I can’t be your fake date all the time” speech, and he could smell Brendon’s shampoo. When Ryan didn’t react Brendon pulled back, looking anywhere but at Ryan, wringing his hands on his lap.

“I’m sorry! I thought, maybe, you felt the same way too. I mean, I know I asked you just to act with me, but Ryan, I had a great time with you. And you’re funny, smart and beautiful and I don’t you to be just my fake anything. I was asking you out for real, I mean, I thought you would want that too, I’m sorr-”

This time it was Ryan who moved forward and kissed Brendon, who unlike Ryan, had faster reflexes and responded to the kiss instantly. He moved both hands to Ryan’s waist and pulled Ryan onto his lap, tightening his hold. Ryan grabbed the front of Brendon’s shirt with one hand, running his other through Brendon’s hair.

They broke apart for air, both of them out of breath and smiling stupidly at each other. Ryan tired to get off Brendon but he refused to let go. “What?” Ryan asked, rolling his eyes at Brendon’s stupid smile, mirroring it with one of his own.

“You haven’t answered my question, Ry,” Brendon teased him, but Ryan could see the doubt in his eyes so he leaned forward and kissed him again. 

“Yes, you dork. I’d like to go on a _real_ date with you,” Ryan answered, realising that he _really_ needed to thank Spencer for dragging him to the party. 

**Author's Note:**

> Also, I know I'm kind of spamming the Ao3 "P!ATD" page but I signed up for it late and I've just written 9 fics in about 2.5 weeks, which I think is awesome. 
> 
> Thank You for reading!! :)


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